READING REPORT #1 - Recently Read Books

I'm turning to an old standard in order to revive my blogging engine. The "vacation" has been long enough. Maybe I can get back to a weekly entry using this timeless old favorite. I'm going to hold each third to five titles since ten seemed to be a bit overwhelming when encouraging others to follow suit.

These are among the books recently completed:

The Sea Runners by Ivan Doid. Set over a decade before the purchase of Alaska, this novel is based on a true escape by a quartet of mismatched Swedes from their virtual slavery in the Russian commercial post called New Archangel (Sitka, Alaska). After a period of hording stolen supplies, the men steal a Tlingit canoe and strike out south for Astoria, Oregon, the only settlement on the Pacific shore of which they are aware. It will be a journey of over 900 miles along one of the world's most challenging coastlines and against a host of hazardous obstacles. This is an intriguing read in style and content and is easily equal to more familiar classic escape sagas. [5 stars]

Prepared for Rage by Dana Stabenow. Breaking away from her usual genre of Alaskan mystery, Stabenow builds a suspenseful tale of an independent, but highly trained, terrorist who assembles completely secret cell of accomplices for the purpose of destroying a shuttle at the moment of launch. Through her protagonist the author shows insight to the Coast Guard as she weaves a plausible and intricate dual plot line. It was pulp mystery, but it kept me going. [3 stars]

The Cloud Atlas by Liam Callahan. A novel built in part around the secret efforts to discover and neutralize a host of Japanese fire-bomb balloons launched against North America during WWII. The intriguing background of this event was told recently in a PBS documentary, which did more to explain the plot of the novel than did the telling of the story itself. Still, a curious tale revealing an historical anomaly of the war virtually unknown until recently. [3.5 stars]

The Pinball Effect by James Burke. Here is a book that proves non-fiction can be fun. Burke, a popular science writer who can make the complex comprehensible to the layman, has tracked hundreds of discoveries showing how a seemingly inconsequential discovery often snowballs into profound results as it is propelled billiard-ball fashion from one developer to another. Here is a series of random findings and observations which seems to illustrate the "butterfly effect" in scientific and industrial application. As each idea or invention was identified it allowed others to move forward to greater and more complex advanced concepts for the greater good. If you like science and history combined, this book will fill you with scores of "I didn't know That" moments. [4 stars]

East of the Mountains by David Guterson. A surgeon, seeking to evade the consequences of his terminal colon cancer, goes back to the hunting grounds of his youth for his final hunt - thus east of the Cascade Mountains. While facing the weight of his life's memories he encounters some individuals who challenge his character and worth. Facing both his intention and his integrity make for a moral introspection full of honesty and new insight. Guterson, who also wrote Snow Falling on Cedars has kept me enthralled in this book too. [4.5 stars]

As always, this exercise in sharing is a thinly disguised attempt to learn from you what you are reading and enjoying. Share the best of your titles in a parallel blog, or if necessary, resort to e-mail, postcards, or send me the books. Just write it down so I won't forget. Watch for upcoming lists of books I am reading now and of books I am going to read soon.

PS OK, I do need to mention one more book recently read and enjoyed immensely. Water in My Veins is the autobiography of LCDR Ted Robinson, USNR, the Executive Officer of PT Boat 118, who was closely involved in the WWII rescue of John Kennedy, then a future President. (See Betty's blog "An Accidental Rescue") Remember the messsage carved into a coconut which led to the recovery of JFK and his crewmates? That coconut was first delivered to Ted Robinson who became a part of the recovery team which brought back Kennedy and ten survivors of his destroyed PT 109.. A great read, but probably hard to obtain still. It is a POD book, but available through Barns and Nobel and/or Amazon, however it is a bit expensive even in paper covers. It is a story full of heroes, from Grandpa John Oelkers to Robinson himself and is must reading for anyone interested in military history. Incidentally, it would stand alone on it's picture of growing up poor in America prior to WWII. [5 stars, easily!]